Hilarious misunderstanding via text messages to and from New Zealand. My mum had been telling me about the emergency operation one of her alpacas (think llama) had been undergoing. I'd been telling her about the emergency operation my dad (her ex-husband) was about to undergo. Then I asked if she had any numbers for my brother , who is away on holiday, and I thought would want to know about dad's operation. My mum wrote "Don't bother disturbing him on holiday, it's not that important". To which I, of course, thought: what a bloody cheek, don't tell me my dad's operation isn't important.

Except it turns out that she hadn't got one of my texts and thought I was trying to hunt my brother down in the Carribean to tell him about the alpaca's operation.

Anyhow, much as I love the NHS (can't wait to see the new Michael Moore's film, "Sicko" , which apparently makes the US health system look terrible in comparison) they didn't do too well for my poor dad's head. He'd been going back and forth to the doctors loads of times with a really bad headache for the last year or so. No, nothing, they'd say, just old age, maybe arthritis, off you go, not worth giving you a scan to check. Finally he flipped at the thought of having the headache for the rest of his life, paid for his own scan and it turns out he's got a bloody great cyst (not tumour) in there, squashing his brain. Lizzie's dad, who just happens to be a brain surgeon, said the symptom my dad mentioned - that the pain gets worse when he bends over - is the number one sign of this particular problem. And that the procedure is very easy and minor and should immediately relieve the pain (as well as introducing new pain in the form of a hole in the head where the drill went in. Yeuck.)

Turns out Lizzie's dad is 100% right as my dad was skipping round like a 5 year old two hours after the operation. Weird that I hadn't noticed he'd been walking like an old man this last year. Not no more.

All of which is why I'm staying at my dad's place in the woods for a few days while my stepmum is away. Cooking healthy food, weeding our sorry vegetable patch attempted last year and trying to right the script. (Was going to correct that "right", but think I may have sub-consciously chosen the appropriate word).